For years, American enthusiasts have looked longingly at ALPINA’s sleek Touring models, wondering why they’ve never made it across the Atlantic. As it turns out, the idea wasn’t completely off the table. In a recent interview, ALPINA boss Andreas Bovensiepen admitted that the brand considered bringing a wagon to the U.S. market. The hurdles, however, weren’t about interest or even price. Sadly, they never made it that far — they came down to the staggering costs of homologation.
A U.S. ALPINA Wagon? Almost
The show’s host pitches Bovensiepen on bringing some of the Touring models to the US. He cites the success of models like the RS6 Avant, which command prices sometimes even over MSRP. Bovensiepen nods his head and agrees with the sentiment. “We were investigating in recent years to bring over a wagon,” he says. “But the difficulty is that…if the base car is not in the market, like a wagon has no crash test in America, then it was too expensive.” Bovensiepen says homologation made the product unviable. For a series production as limited as ALPINA’s US Touring offerings would’ve been, it simply couldn’t work. Reportedly, even at $150,000 each — a number pitched by the host — Bovensiepen shakes his head and says “no.”
How Much Would It Have Cost?
However, he also notes that so far, the brand has never had to crash test a car for themselves. Since the brand’s cars share so much with traditional BMW models — which have already been crash tested — and ALPINA doesn’t sell variants in markets that BMW wouldn’t otherwise already offer, Bovensiepen isn’t intimately acquainted with exactly how costly it might be to homologate. “Five cars or more,” is Bovensiepen’s estimate for crash requirements, with “maybe $3 to $5 million” in costs. We want to emphasize that these are in no way concrete figures. They are, however, Bovensiepen’s own words.
What About When BMW Sold Wagons Here?
All this begs the question: where was ALPINA when BMW did offer wagons in the U.S. market? For example: the F31 3 Series Touring made it Stateside, as did the E61 Touring and E91 Touring models. For that matter, if homologation is truly all that stands in ALPINA’s way from bringing models across the ocean, why restrict ALPINA models from us at all?
We chalk it up to a lack of demand, but contend that demand would’ve been there if the company sold the cars here from the start. Either way, it’s interesting to know that ALPINA considered bringing a wagon Stateside. And, perhaps even more intriguing, the fact that the automaker considered it after wagons left our shores.
Source: MotoManTV Podcast
